New dwarf planet discovered in outer solar system

Astronomers discovered a new dwarf planet in the outer solar system. Dubbed 2015 RR245, this dwarf planet has one of the largest orbits for a dwarf planet. The object is roughly 700 kilometers in diameter and funnily enough, the dwarf planet takes roughly 700 years to complete one orbit around the Sun.

An international team of astronomers have discovered a new dwarf planet orbiting in the disk of small icy worlds beyond Neptune. The new object is roughly 700 kilometers in size and has one of the largest orbits for a dwarf planet. Designated 2015 RR245 by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center, it was found using the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Maunakea, Hawaii, as part of the ongoing Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS).

"The icy worlds beyond Neptune trace how the giant planets formed and then moved out from the Sun. They let us piece together the history of our Solar System. But almost all of these icy worlds are painfully small and faint: it's really exciting to find one that's large and bright enough that we can study it in detail." said Dr Michele Bannister of the University of Victoria in British Columbia, who is a postdoctoral fellow with the Survey.

Full details about the discovery can be read at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope website. A render of the orbit of RR245 (orange line) can be seen below, its elongate orbit takes this dwarf planet more than 120 times further from the Sun than Earth.